Ellie Robson - AS Media
Audience Interview - Luna
We had to answer several audience questions in interview form to give an insight to who we are aiming our audience at and also to have experience in using/editing a green screen. The questions were:
1. How do media industries target audiences?
2. Who is the audience of a romantic comedy?
3. What do audiences consume?
4. Feedback from 'audience' on their favourite romantic comedy
Props
The props we will use in our opening sequence are as follows:
- Books. There are several scenes which involve the characters reading books. These are staple icons in the movie as our characters are being portrayed as intellectual and avid readers. The books we will use are those such as The Great Gatsby, The Catcher in the Rye, Lolita, 1984, Pride and Prejudice etc.
- Gaming console. The most easily accessible games console is the Xbox 360 so this will be included in the montage during the scene where the two protagonists are playing video games.
- Television. During the montage there is a scene where the two protagonists are watching a scary movie whilst huddled under a duvet. A TV has to be present in this scene.
- Sofa. There are several scenes in the montage where the two protagonists are together on the sofa.
- Bed. There is one scene in the montage where the characters are sitting facing each other on a bed.
Titles Research
The following is the typical order for opening credits in the beginning of a movie:
Name of the studio
- Name of the studio that is distributing the film and may or may not have produced it (Walt Disney Pictures, Columbia, Lions Gate, Universal, Marvel Studios, Dimension, Miramax etc.). Ours will show Fox Searchlight.
- Name of production company
- Name of the production company that actually made the film or name of the investment groups or companies that financed a substantial part of the film (usually credited as "in association with" or "A (studio name) production."). Ours will say An Iridescent Innovations production in association with Cool Cat Studios and Phoenix Rising Studios, with Forbidden Fruit Entertainment.
- Director's first credit
- A film by (director's name). Ours will say A film by Dominic Freedman.
- Principal actors
- Showing the principal actors in a list or with a single credit each, either in order of importance, order of appearance or alphabetical order. Our movie will say Jonathan Foulston and Ellie Robson, each with a single credit.
- Film's title
- Name of the film. Ours will not go in the sequence this early on but rather at the end of the opening scene. Luna.
- Featuring
- Featured/supporting actors. As we have no supporting actors there will not be a section for these in our opening sequence.
- Casting
- Casting director. This will say Casting, Casting Director or Casting By. Casting by Zahra Mukadam.
- MUSIC or MUSIC COMPOSED BY or ORIGINAL SCORE BY
- Composer of music. This will say Music; Music Composed By; Original Score By; Musical Director. Our opening credits will say Musical Director, Jonathan Foulston.
- Production Design
- Production design or production designer. Whilst she never actually participated in the opening scene, this credit will say Production Design: Lauren Hunt as we are aiming to not repeat each of our names.
- SET DESIGN
- COSTUMES or COSTUMES BY or GOWNS (older movies)
- HAIRDRESSER
- MAKE-UP ARTIST
- SOUND RECORDING (older movies)
- VISUAL EFFECTS DIRECTOR or VISUAL EFFECTS BY
- Editor or edited by
- The editor of the movie. Ours will say Edited by Jonathan Foulston, although we will all participate in the editing.
- Director of photography
- Director of photography - Director of photography, Zahra Mukadam.
- Producer
- Producers, co-producers, executive producers, 'also produced by'. Often, though, the name of the producer will be the next-to-last opening credit, just before the director's name is shown. Executive producer, Ellie Robson.
- Based on the book/play/graphic novel by...
- If based on a book or other literary work. Ours isn't based on other literary work so we will skip this title.
- Based on the characters by/based on the characters created by...
- If based on characters from a book or other media. We have been inspired by the characters from (500) Days of Summer and Perks of Being a Wallflower so our credit will say Based on the characters created by Scott Neustadter.
- Story
- Person who wrote the story on which the script is based, gets "story by" credit, and the first screenplay credit, unless the script made substantial changes to the story. Ours will say Story by Ellie Robson.
- Writer(s)
- The screenplay writers. Ours will say Written by Ellie Robson and Jonathan Foulston.
- Director or Directed By
- The director is the final credit in the opening sequence. This will say Directed by Dominic Freedman.
Genre Codes and Conventions and Audience
Our planned opening is a compilation of many different romantic shots in the form of a montage. It will all be handheld footage to look considerably more personal than static shots.
These typical Rom-Com conventions will occur during the opening scene:
A typical ‘Boy meets Girl’ scenario.
Often starts with a voiceover explaining characters.
Two protagonists, normally male and female.
A chance encounter.
However, as opposed to the movie being centred around a female protagonist, the main character will be a male. The movie will be aimed at the female gender predominantly however it can be aimed at the male audience too due to the relation with the main character. The age of the preferred audience will be of 15 years of age and up.
Examples of Romantic Comedy conventions:
We were inspired by the movies '(500) Days of Summer', 'Submarine', 'About Time' and 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'. We were also inspired by my friends' student film 'Bottlebank' which includes a montage scene too.
Not officially from the movie but it shows what we are aiming to do with the aspect of cute/romantic scenes compiled together to create a montage.
The montage scene at 24:35 perfectly displays what we are intending to do with our opening sequence. A personal old-fashioned looking compilation of many romantic handheld pieces of footage.
These typical Rom-Com conventions will occur during the opening scene:
A typical ‘Boy meets Girl’ scenario.
Often starts with a voiceover explaining characters.
Two protagonists, normally male and female.
A chance encounter.
However, as opposed to the movie being centred around a female protagonist, the main character will be a male. The movie will be aimed at the female gender predominantly however it can be aimed at the male audience too due to the relation with the main character. The age of the preferred audience will be of 15 years of age and up.
Examples of Romantic Comedy conventions:
We were inspired by the movies '(500) Days of Summer', 'Submarine', 'About Time' and 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'. We were also inspired by my friends' student film 'Bottlebank' which includes a montage scene too.
Not officially from the movie but it shows what we are aiming to do with the aspect of cute/romantic scenes compiled together to create a montage.
The montage scene at 24:35 perfectly displays what we are intending to do with our opening sequence. A personal old-fashioned looking compilation of many romantic handheld pieces of footage.
Location and Recce Shots
Adventure Island theme park will be displayed in a selection of our final shots. The two main characters will be seen having fun on rides and running around the facility.
Electric Avenue and all of the other arcades down the beach of Southend will be shown in some of our shots. The two main characters will be seen playing arcade games and laughing together.
Either Starbucks Coffee or Costa will be used to create our final shot of the opening sequence. It will feature the meeting by chance of the two characters.
A few shots will take place on the Southend beach at sunset. This will increase the intensity of the romantic relationship for the audience.
Shot list
Here is a list of the shots on the storyboard for our opening scene:
1. Wide shot of the beach. Jonathan on left hand side facing away from camera towards ocean.
2. Wide shot of the beach. Shot fades evenly into Jonathan and Ellie on left hand side facing away from camera towards ocean.
3. Medium shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting on the beach. 3 seconds.
4. Medium over-the-shoulder shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting on the beach. 3 seconds.
5. Beginning of montage. Long shot of Jonathan and Ellie walking on the beach. 4-5 seconds.
6. Medium shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting playing video games. 4-5 seconds.
7. Dutch shot of Jonathan and Ellie facing each other on bed. 7-8 seconds.
8. Middle shot of Jonathan and Ellie on sofa studying/reading together. 3-5 seconds.
9. Middle shot of Jonathan and Ellie watching a scary movie on the sofa. 5-6 seconds.
10. Over-the-shoulder middle long shot of Jonathan and Ellie skimming stones on beach at night. 10 seconds.
11. Rewind entire montage. 4 seconds.
12. Wide shot of coffee shop. Jonathan on one side of the room, Ellie at a table on another. Music stops. Silence before he walks towards her. 6 seconds.
1. Wide shot of the beach. Jonathan on left hand side facing away from camera towards ocean.
2. Wide shot of the beach. Shot fades evenly into Jonathan and Ellie on left hand side facing away from camera towards ocean.
3. Medium shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting on the beach. 3 seconds.
4. Medium over-the-shoulder shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting on the beach. 3 seconds.
5. Beginning of montage. Long shot of Jonathan and Ellie walking on the beach. 4-5 seconds.
6. Medium shot of Jonathan and Ellie sitting playing video games. 4-5 seconds.
7. Dutch shot of Jonathan and Ellie facing each other on bed. 7-8 seconds.
8. Middle shot of Jonathan and Ellie on sofa studying/reading together. 3-5 seconds.
9. Middle shot of Jonathan and Ellie watching a scary movie on the sofa. 5-6 seconds.
10. Over-the-shoulder middle long shot of Jonathan and Ellie skimming stones on beach at night. 10 seconds.
11. Rewind entire montage. 4 seconds.
12. Wide shot of coffee shop. Jonathan on one side of the room, Ellie at a table on another. Music stops. Silence before he walks towards her. 6 seconds.
Production Diary
Meeting 1: We discussed each of our film pitches and evaluated the pros and cons of each. The four genres we discussed were: romantic comedy, horror, horror comedy and teen drama. Each had positives and negatives but in the end there was a draw between the romantic comedy and the teen drama. Both had very similar plots and storylines so we merged the two and came out with a romantic comedy.
Meeting 2: Jonathan completed the task of evidence of how the opening fits with genre codes/conventions and audience; Dom and Zahra together worked on the storyboard for the opening; I completed several moodboards for similar films, typography and costume.
Meeting 3: Jonathan and I wrote the narrative for the voice-over that Dom will be reading over the opening scene whilst Dom and Zahra continued with the storyboard.
Meeting 4: Jonathan and I completed the narrative for the voice-over; Dom and Zahra completed the storyboard and worked on the timeline for the opening scene.
Meeting 5: We discussed the different things we needed to complete before shooting next week, issues that we may have with continuity (weather; it will be hard to travel to Southend several times etc.) and continued work on the task list. Jonathan found photos of the locations we will shoot in (Southend-on-Sea beach, Adventure Island theme park, Southend arcades and a coffee shop e.g. Costa or Starbucks). Dom and Zahra touched up the storyboard to make it absolutely accurate. I wrote out a list of all of the shots.
Meeting 6: I filmed the storyboards and Dom uploaded them onto Adobe Premiere. He then recorded a voice-over explaining each of the shots which fit with the storyboard video. Jonathan finished his location and recce shots and Zahra helped finish the storyboard.
Meeting 7: Dom recorded two versions of his narrator voice-over, one in a happy tone and one in a sadder tone. We then voted for which we thought was the best-suited for the opening sequence and decided that instead of a romantic comedy we are veering towards a romantic drama, choosing the sad voice-over in order to fully portray the feelings of the character Brody (Jonathan's character).
Meeting 8: We were given several questions to answer about box office and the audience of our movie and we set up the green screen to film. We each answered one question, with Dom posing as an audience member and answering a question about his favourite romantic comedies, and Miss Brookes filmed for us.
Meeting 9: As Miss Brookes had accidentally taken photos instead of filming our 'interview', we had to re-film with the green screen using Mr Amato as the cameraman.
Meeting 10: We edited the 'interview', cutting out over 20 minutes of extra blooper footage. We experimented with different backgrounds for the green screen and different effects that Premiere had to offer.
Meeting 11: We finished editing the audience interview, using a background which blended in with the parts of the classroom wall we hadn't covered with the green screen, overall creating a realistic effect.
Meeting 12: We wrote lists of things we needed e.g. props and costumes. Dom completed the risk assessment for each location we would film at.
Meeting 13: Dom completed a shooting schedule for the following days' filming. Jonathan checked out the camera and tripod so that we were able to film the day after.
Meeting 14: We all went to Dom's house after school in order to complete the first few shots of filming: a video gaming scene, watching a scary movie, studying together and relaxing at 'Brody''s house.
Meeting 15: We uploaded the footage from the night before and added them all onto Adobe Premiere.
Meeting 16: We edited the footage we had together and tried to find some music that would fit with the tone of the montage.
Meeting 17: On Saturday 30th November we met at the train station and took the train to Southend Victoria. We walked down the high street and discussed which of the four coffee shops we'd like to use for the end of the montage and also which shops we could visit to film in. We went to the arcades first as the tide was out and filmed in those. Then we went onto the beach and filmed until it was dark. The only shot that we did not get was the coffee shop shot.
Meeting 18: We uploaded all of our footage onto Adobe Premiere and deleted those which we didn't think were good enough for the montage. Altogether the footage came to over four minutes so we chopped them down.
Meeting 19: We continued to edit our footage, exploring Premiere for effects we could use, including creating a big border to give a sort of old-time indie film effect. We also dimmed the opacity on the beginning shots to made them look sadder, and added sad piano music to set the atmosphere.
Meeting 20: Editing continued. We chose the music for the montage, a happy-go-lucky indie acoustic song. We started attempting to cut the montage to the beats of the music, cutting the entire time of the opening scene down to just over 2 minutes.
Meeting 2: Jonathan completed the task of evidence of how the opening fits with genre codes/conventions and audience; Dom and Zahra together worked on the storyboard for the opening; I completed several moodboards for similar films, typography and costume.
Meeting 3: Jonathan and I wrote the narrative for the voice-over that Dom will be reading over the opening scene whilst Dom and Zahra continued with the storyboard.
Meeting 4: Jonathan and I completed the narrative for the voice-over; Dom and Zahra completed the storyboard and worked on the timeline for the opening scene.
Meeting 5: We discussed the different things we needed to complete before shooting next week, issues that we may have with continuity (weather; it will be hard to travel to Southend several times etc.) and continued work on the task list. Jonathan found photos of the locations we will shoot in (Southend-on-Sea beach, Adventure Island theme park, Southend arcades and a coffee shop e.g. Costa or Starbucks). Dom and Zahra touched up the storyboard to make it absolutely accurate. I wrote out a list of all of the shots.
Meeting 6: I filmed the storyboards and Dom uploaded them onto Adobe Premiere. He then recorded a voice-over explaining each of the shots which fit with the storyboard video. Jonathan finished his location and recce shots and Zahra helped finish the storyboard.
Meeting 7: Dom recorded two versions of his narrator voice-over, one in a happy tone and one in a sadder tone. We then voted for which we thought was the best-suited for the opening sequence and decided that instead of a romantic comedy we are veering towards a romantic drama, choosing the sad voice-over in order to fully portray the feelings of the character Brody (Jonathan's character).
Meeting 8: We were given several questions to answer about box office and the audience of our movie and we set up the green screen to film. We each answered one question, with Dom posing as an audience member and answering a question about his favourite romantic comedies, and Miss Brookes filmed for us.
Meeting 9: As Miss Brookes had accidentally taken photos instead of filming our 'interview', we had to re-film with the green screen using Mr Amato as the cameraman.
Meeting 10: We edited the 'interview', cutting out over 20 minutes of extra blooper footage. We experimented with different backgrounds for the green screen and different effects that Premiere had to offer.
Meeting 11: We finished editing the audience interview, using a background which blended in with the parts of the classroom wall we hadn't covered with the green screen, overall creating a realistic effect.
Meeting 12: We wrote lists of things we needed e.g. props and costumes. Dom completed the risk assessment for each location we would film at.
Meeting 13: Dom completed a shooting schedule for the following days' filming. Jonathan checked out the camera and tripod so that we were able to film the day after.
Meeting 14: We all went to Dom's house after school in order to complete the first few shots of filming: a video gaming scene, watching a scary movie, studying together and relaxing at 'Brody''s house.
Meeting 15: We uploaded the footage from the night before and added them all onto Adobe Premiere.
Meeting 16: We edited the footage we had together and tried to find some music that would fit with the tone of the montage.
Meeting 17: On Saturday 30th November we met at the train station and took the train to Southend Victoria. We walked down the high street and discussed which of the four coffee shops we'd like to use for the end of the montage and also which shops we could visit to film in. We went to the arcades first as the tide was out and filmed in those. Then we went onto the beach and filmed until it was dark. The only shot that we did not get was the coffee shop shot.
Meeting 18: We uploaded all of our footage onto Adobe Premiere and deleted those which we didn't think were good enough for the montage. Altogether the footage came to over four minutes so we chopped them down.
Meeting 19: We continued to edit our footage, exploring Premiere for effects we could use, including creating a big border to give a sort of old-time indie film effect. We also dimmed the opacity on the beginning shots to made them look sadder, and added sad piano music to set the atmosphere.
Meeting 20: Editing continued. We chose the music for the montage, a happy-go-lucky indie acoustic song. We started attempting to cut the montage to the beats of the music, cutting the entire time of the opening scene down to just over 2 minutes.
Moodboard
This is the moodboard of films similar to what we are aiming for for our final piece - a short opening sequence of a film. The main films that we are aiming to be similar to are 'indie' romantic comedies such as (500) Days of Summer, Perks of Being a Wallflower, About Time, Bottlebank and Submarine. They will be similar in terms of storyline, effects and editing.
This is the moodboard of outfits that are inspiration for the costumes for our final. The female protagonist's outfits will reflect her quirky, upbeat personality - she will wear overalls, jumpers and skirts with Doc Martens. The male protagonist's outfits are inspired by old-style gentlemen's clothes - bow ties and shirts - as well as modern 'indie' fashion - patterned knitted jumpers and skinny jeans.
This is the moodboard of typography of similar films to the one we will create. The main three films that are the inspiration for typography are (500) Days of Summer, Perks of Being a Wallflower and About Time. Other films with interesting, inspirational typography are Juno and Little Miss Sunshine.
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